Conflict Management at work

Conflict Management at Work
This article by Yeung, Fung, and Chan (2014) focuses on the strategies young and old workers take to manage conflict with their colleagues. The authors employ the socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) and the cooperation and competition model to examine if older employees would take a different conflict management approach compared to what younger workers would use. Yeung, Fung, and Chan (2014) further explore the impact of the conflict partner and age interacting, as well as whether age would affect the harmful implications of avoiding as a conflict management mechanism. Hence, the primary purpose of this article is to investigate how age influences employees’ conflict management at work. The dominant perspective in this study is the viewpoint of individuals that use conflict management strategies. Such persons are mainly employees and employers. On the other hand, the minority perspective in this study is the standpoint of those who do not employ conflict management strategies. Such people are individuals outside the company environment and may include researchers (Yeung, Fung & Chan, 2014).
This conflict management approach involves older employees tending to avoid more to manage conflict with their superiors, but choosing to be less dominant when handling conflict with their juniors. The study’s results indicate that older employees tend to use the aforementioned conflict management strategy. This research also reveals that using the avoiding option has a harmful effect on interpersonal relationships.

Conflict management approaches, therefore, do not have a universal impact on work outcomes, but rather an age-related effect. Results indicate that this negative impact is only evident in younger workers, while older employees are not affected. Goal interdependence helps to explain this age difference (Yeung, Fung & Chan, 2014). Consequently, the study shows that age is a critical factor in conflict management at work.

Reference
Yeung, D. Y., Fung, H. H., & Chan, D. (2015). Managing conflict at work: comparison between younger and older managerial employees. International Journal of Conflict Management, 26(3), 342-364. doi:10.1108/ijcma-06-2014-0044